


A Heavy Burden

by Aria_Lerendeair



Series: Alec Lightwood Birthday Bash 2019 [22]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Banter, M/M, Nephilim with Wings, Wingfic, battle husbands, everyone is okay, magnus is the son of a Fallen Angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21650110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/pseuds/Aria_Lerendeair
Summary: The original Nephilim, it was rumored, had wings that towered over them, a hold over from half the angel blood that they carried.  It was a secret, closely guarded and never revealed.That was, until Magnus decided to fall off a skyscraper.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Alec Lightwood Birthday Bash 2019 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560298
Comments: 24
Kudos: 622





	A Heavy Burden

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous (2 of them) prompted: Oooh, how about a wing fic? Either wings always there or maybe poof! Congrats, you have wings!! & Nephilim are less human than they appear! 
> 
> This means....everyone gets some wing!fic!! 
> 
> Edit is by the AMAAAAAAAAZING DC11961 - who gave me permission to use it for the fic!

“Who decided to let flying demons be a thing?” Izzy snapped, glaring at the wraiths as they moved to the next skyscraper, hovering out of range of Magnus’ magic and Alec’s bow and arrow. 

  
Magnus scowled and summoned another portal, picking the place just behind the wraiths. "I don’t know, we don’t exactly have time to examine this in detail. Now move, and be ready the second you step out of the portal,“ he ordered. 

  
Alec jumped through first, his bow already knocked and he managed to get two wraiths down with one shot, the ichor falling all around them. Izzy’s whip snapped next to him and she pulled hard, trying to drag it towards them. 

  
“Alec!” Izzy shouted, grunting under the force, glad when Jace grabbed the whip and helped her from sliding across the roof. 

  
Alec spun and quickly dispatched the wraith, sending Jace and Izzy crashing to the ground, but no longer in danger of being pulled off the roof. He sagged, panting hard. "Fuck, that’s three, right? Where’s the last one?“ 

  
Magnus stepped through the portal and closed it behind him, shaking off the threads of exhaustion that were starting to cling to him. This many portals in this short a time was starting to take its toll. He stepped closer to the other shadowhunters and scanned the skies, frowning when he didn’t see any evidence of demonic activity. 

  
"Maybe it left when it saw how quickly you dispatched its friends? I know I would certainly appreciate the break, I’m about done,” he called out, just as the shadow fell over him. He spun, firing a quick blast of magic, but the wraith was quicker, diving under it and towards him. 

  
Alec watched in horror as Magnus was picked up by the wraith and the demon immediately took off carrying him. "Magnus!“ he shouted, nocking another arrow, firing it quickly, but the wraith ducked under it and he cursed as it was out of range. 

  
Magnus considered his options very, _very_ carefully as the wraith pulled him higher into the air and made the bad decision a split second after he’d thought of it. "Not making it that easy for you,” he snarled. He twisted and gathered the last of the magic he had and fired it above him, ichor cascading around him as the demon disappeared in an explosion. With it though, were the talons holding him and Magnus took a deep breath, letting himself fall. He had one shot at this, and only one shot. 

  
“Magnus!” Alec screamed the second the demon was gone and Magnus was falling through the air in a freefall. Magnus had mentioned his magic was almost entirely depleted, which meant that he wasn’t going to have a way to stop or save himself. He was racing for the edge of the roof before he could stop to consider the consequences, throwing his bow to the side, along with his jacket. He couldn’t risk anything. 

  
“Alec!” Izzy dashed for the edge, but Alec had already leapt off of it. 

  
~!~

  
The original Nephilim, it was rumored, had wings that towered over them, a hold over from half the angel blood that they carried. Their bodies weren’t built for the strain of the appendages, and as they continued to breed with humans and dilute their bloodline, wings became a thing of the past, even though the hints of angelic blood remained. 

  
Only true children of the angels could manifest wings, and even rarer still were the ones willing to shoulder the pain to do so. 

  
When the Mortal Cup was brought to earth, and the blood of angels mixed with the old bloodline, there were rumors, of the old families, who could trace their bloodlines back before most history allowed, that perhaps the wings could manifest again with the angel blood combined with the blood of those who had sipped from the Mortal Cup. 

  
~!~

  
Alec hadn’t done this since he was a teenager, and had only done it a handful of times beyond that, but with his entire body filled with panic and fear for Magnus, it was easy to reach inside him and find the part he always kept hidden, that he had to hide from the world. His wings burst from his back and his whole chest and back was immediately on fire with the additional muscle strain. He grunted under the pain but forced his wings to move, to push himself towards the falling figure of Magnus, his body limp in free fall. 

  
It was a fools chance, to try to catch Magnus in mid-air, and Alec nearly blew past him, but at the last possible second, he managed to grab Magnus’ wrist, hauling him in close. He spread his wings and tried to cut down their speed, but the strain on his muscles had him floundering, wings flapping in a panic, nearly screaming in pain. They were still falling far too fast and they weren’t going to make it. 

  
Alec forced himself to move them so he could catch as much air with his wings as possible, not able to keep in the shout of pain this time, but if he managed to save Magnus, it was going to be worth it, he’d be okay, they’d both be okay. 

  
Only a hundred or so feet from the ground, Alec nearly dropped Magnus when wings, a mix of white, gold and the faintest hint of blue, almost twice his own wingspan, burst from Magnus’ back, and their fall slowed to almost nothing, even as Magnus shouted in pain, eerily reminiscent of his own only seconds ago. Alec had only enough time to flip them before they landed, stumbling a little before he crashed to his knees, Magnus falling to the ground a moment later. 

  
“Magnus,” Alec panted. He scrambled closer, towards the warlock, and the wings that were now spread out under him. He grabbed Magnus’ hand and knelt next to him, his eyes sweeping over the wings. “Magnus are you all right?” 

  
“H-heavy,” Magnus hissed, his whole chest felt weighed down by the wings on his back and he couldn’t breathe. 

  
“I know, I know,” Alec nodded, tightening his hand around Magnus’. “You need, I need my strength rune to carry mine, you, you need to draw from me and augment your strength enough, the weight can collapse your lungs.” 

  
Magnus scowled, but nodded in return, focusing on Alec, drawing enough power to help support the weight of the wings on his back. Four hundred years and he’d never had to pull them out. At least now he knew that he could. He sucked in a pained breath. His head spun and once he couldn’t feel the weight as much, he sat up, just enough to sag into Alexander, glancing up at the black wings on the Nephilim’s back. 

  
“Izzy too, huh?” Magnus muttered. “Lightwood blood rings true,” he added, his eyes drifting shut. 

  
“Because that’s what’s important right now,” Alec muttered to himself, reaching to brush some of Magnus’ hair out of his face. “I want to know how the hell you managed to have them too.” 

  
Magnus’ eyes fluttered and he sighed. “Wasn’t sure. Prince of Hell’s a fallen angel, right?” 

  
Alec sucked in a hard breath, the impact of those words hitting his chest, hard. He stared down at Magnus. It made more sense than he was willing to admit. It explained why Magnus could wield a Seraph blade where other downworlders couldn’t, why he had wings, why he was as powerful as he was compared to other warlocks… 

  
Alec shook himself and looked up at his wings, rolling his shoulders. He took a deep breath and forced them away again, to sink back into where they rested in his soul. The relief on his shoulders and back was immediate and he focused his attention to Magnus. 

  
Magnus blinked blearily at him, taking as deep a breath as he could before it started to hurt. “How’d you do that?” 

  
“I put them back where I pull them from,” Alec explained, looking down at himself. “There’s a place, I can feel it, where they…stay? I guess that’s the best word. You need to put yours back too, it’ll drain your magic indefinitely otherwise.” 

  
Magnus nodded and pressed his face closer to Alexander’s neck, trying to focus, even as his wings twitched, and then they were surrounded by them both. He opened one eye and gave them a look, frowning. “I didn’t tell them to do that.” 

  
Alec couldn’t help but smile at the possessive gesture and kissed Magnus’ temple. “You’ll learn how to stop that from happening, but they often respond to subconscious desires. Like wanting to protect me.” 

  
“Oh,” Magnus muttered. “That’s okay then.” 

  
“Try to put them back, you’re going to injure yourself if you keep them out for much longer,” Alec said, reaching out to rub Magnus’ neck where he could see the tension gathering again. “Probably gonna be easier for you as a magic user.” 

  
Magnus looked up at his wings again, marveling at the color. “Why’re they white? Mine should be…be…not white.” 

  
“Color isn’t anything,” Alec soothed him. “I had trouble with that, having black wings. It’s just a manifestation of…us, who we are.” 

  
Magnus scowled. “Shouldn’t be white.” 

  
Alec chuckled and looked down at him. “Maybe yours are a compliment to mine? I used to hate that mine were black.” 

  
Magnus looked up at Alec in surprise, blinking slowly. “Oh,” he whispered. “I quite like that.” 

  
“I thought you might,” Alec teased. “Now, focus and try to put them away so you can breathe without it hurting.” 

  
Magnus nodded and closed his eyes. He tried to reach for that spot Alec had told him about, where he’d pulled them from and imagined the wings folding in on themselves, returning to that spot until they were needed. It took what felt like hours, but then the weight was miraculously gone from his back and he took a proper deep breath, his chest heaving. 

  
“Easy, easy,” Alec whispered, pressing a hand to Magnus’ chest. “You don’t realize how hard it was to breathe until you can without the issue again.” 

  
Magnus frowned and squinted at Alec. “Did you jump off the building?” 

  
Alec burst out laughing, wrapping his arms tighter around Magnus, pulling him in close. “That’s all you have to say in response?” 

  
Magnus poked Alec in the side. “No more jumping off of buildings, I thought we’d talked about this.” 

  
Alec sobered and pressed a kiss to Magnus’ cheek. “I was not about to let you take that fall without me trying to save you.” 

  
“Stubborn Nephillim,” Magnus muttered, glancing around them to make sure they were alone. “Can we stay here until it doesn’t hurt to move?” 

  
“Yeah,” Alec said with a chuckle. “We can stay here as long as you want, Magnus.” 

  
Magnus relaxed and cuddled closer to Alec. “Okay. Good, that’s, yeah. That’s good,” he managed, the energy drain and summoning of his wings for the first time having exhausted him damn near entirely. 

  
“Don’t worry,” Alec promised, brushing some of Magnus’ hair off of his face. “I’ve got you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Criticisms welcome!
> 
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